Donald Lawrence “Larry” Grant was born March 20, 1920 in Terre Haute, Indiana. He was the oldest of four children born to Donald Buford Grant and Altha Lena Sellars. The family moved several times around the Midwest during his youth, before finally settling in Sullivan, Illinois shortly after Altha’s death from tuberculosis in 1932.

He was a star athlete at Sullivan High School, starting at center for the football team, and doubled as a sports reporter for the local paper, the Progress. After graduating in 1937, he continued his athletic exploits at Eureka (Ill.) College, where he played baseball and football, serving as captain of the football team his senior year.

He enlisted in the Army Air Force September 25, 1941. Shortly before enlisting, Larry married Mabel Eathel Martin, a classmate from high school and a local teacher. Sadly, their marriage was short lived and their divorce would be finalized about a month before his death.

His first combat tour came as a member of the 303rd Bombardment Group (358th Bomb Squadron) stationed in Molesworth, England. Serving as a navigator, he flew with the crews of George Oxrider and Robert O’Connor. He completed his 25-mission tour in May of 1943 and returned to the States.

Upon returning home, Larry was made an instructor, a position which didn’t sit well with him. He volunteered for a second combat tour and was sent to Italy. He was serving as a radar navigator for the 484th Bombardment Group (826th Bomb Squadron) when his B-17 was shot down on a mission to Munich on June 9, 1944. The plane crashed into the Adriatic Sea with all aboard killed. Larry was survived by his father, sister and two brothers. He is listed on the Tablets of the Missing at Sicily-Rome American Cemetery in Nettuno, Italy.